DPP makes decision in Playfair Privy Council case

Director of Public Prosecutions, Paula Llewellyn, has made a decision in the case of 55-year-old legal secretary Annette Livingston whose conviction and sentence were set aside by the United Kingdom Privy Council last month.

However, Llewellyn is tight-lipped on her decision.

"I am not at liberty at this time to disclose my decision but will do so at the appropriate time," Llewellyn said.

At the time, the Privy made its decision on October 22, it also directed that the Crown decide within the next 28 days whether Livingston should face a retrial.

Today, the DPP told The Gleaner that last week she sent her detailed instructions to her lawyers in England for transmission to the Privy Council in relation to her decision.

The Privy Council, in setting aside Livingston’s conviction and sentence had directed the Crown to respond in writing in broad terms the evidential basis on which it would seek a retrial if she chose to do so.

Queen's Counsel Frank Phipps who is representing Livingston, disclosed today that she has decided against an application for bail because she has nowhere to go.

He said she decided to "sit it out" in prison until a decision has been made by the Crown.

In 2003 Livingston, of Buff Bay, Portland was convicted along with 33-year-old labourer Ramone Drysdale and 61-year-old taxi driver Ashley Ricketts for the April 2000 murder of attorney-at-law Shirley Playfair.

Drysdale is now serving life imprisonment and is not eligible for parole until he has served 35 years.